Kick-Ass v Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: Metro Film Fight Club

There was a time when admitting you played video games secured you a position on the bottom of the school social standing scale. Nerds simply existed to get beaten up. The geek shall inherit the earth was a joke rather than an actual prophecy. Nowadays however geek chic is a such thing; playing StarCraft is a viable career; Jim Parsons is winning Emmys over Larry David , Alec Baldwin and Steve Carrell for reading deadpan lines with scientific terms and Star Trek references interspersed with soul-destroying canned laughter.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for nerd culture. But Scott Pilgrim tries so, so, so hard the screen practically stinks of effort. Yes, we get it, video games are cool now. Oh and well done, you’ve just alienated the 95 per cent of the cinema-going public who never played a Nintendo 64.

With its computer game set-up, Scott Pilgrim sneakily does away with its need for exposition, and theoretically should speed along at a blistering pace jumping from action scene to action scene with no need for explanation. So why does it plod along so? Why am I impatiently counting down the exes as he linearly makes his way through them? Am most importantly, why is he dumping the way hotter Knives for the ‘Oh I’m so interesting I can dye my hair’ chic?

There’s only one purple-bobbed lady who stands up to scrutiny in this battle, and that’s the filthy-mouthed knife-wielding head-kicking Hit-Girl. She’s just one of the characters SPVTW wishes it had. Dave Lizewski is a protagonist we like, admire and can identify with. Scott Pilgrim is just a dick.

This may be a graphic novel battle, but only one of these films is graphic or novel; arguing that it’s Scott Pilgrim is just comical.

Ross McG:Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

‘You’re pretentious, this club sucks, I have beef. Let’s fight.’

Insert coins. Press start. Play… If you have ever played a video game, listened to a song or had a crush on someone, you will love Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. If you’ve ever fantasised about being in your own video game, playing songs in a really cool band and hooking up with the girl of your dreams, then Scott Pilgrim Vs The World will probably be the best film you have ever seen. If you fantasise about dressing up in a stupid green romper suit and getting knifed by hoodlums, then by all means help yourself to Kick-Ass.

The biggest problem with Kick-Ass (and there are a lot) is that tonally it’s all over the place. It spends a lot of time trying to establish that it’s set in the real world and that violence can have an impact, but then goes for slo-mo action scenes and cartoon killings when it suits. And quoting other movies might be fun with your mates down the pub, but I don’t want to watch a whole movie devoted to it. Amid all the unoriginality, I can’t find one character to root for. If you knew Kick-Ass in real life you would steer a mile clear of him. This is a guy who thinks all his problems will be solved just by beating the crap out of people. And don’t get me started on Hit-Girl. Having a little kid killing people is not funny or original. I’ve seen The Omen.

While Kick-Ass spends its running time ripping off other films, with Scott Pilgrim, Edgar Wright has created a big-screen world that is totally original. Every one of the battles against an evil ex is a complete blast, the soundtrack is fantastic and it rattles along at 100mph. In Kick-Ass, Nicholas Cage dresses up like Batman. Great.